A little Christmas Cheer…….

I’m on of those people……that my brother-in-law hates…..that decorates for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Always. Every year. Since I can remember. And it’s not that I don’t love Thanksgiving. I do. It’s my favorite holiday. But I have a lot of Christmas decorations. And if I waited until after Thanksgiving, I’d be stressed trying to get it all up. So in the name of having energy and sanity left for thankfulness, I do it early. Furthermore, we are Lutheran so we follow the church calendar….and certainly want to have our decorations up when we start our advent calendar. Which is quickly approaching. It makes me cheerful and gives everybody in the house a little spring in their step to see all the decorations going up so soon. So I make no apologies: I decorate and bake with thankfulness in my heart!

I also ‘host’ my extended family for Thanksgiving, so I love decorating the dining room table and coming up with fun ideas for the kid’s table…..and cooking. Lots and lots of cooking. So I take my cues from my mother in law who is the queen of cooking lots of wonderful holiday food. And her secret: start early and freeze what you can. So tomorrow, I bake pecan and pumpkin pies.

I’m also working on my placecards and making sure all my linens are laundered and ready to go. I also put up 4 Christmas trees today. Don’t throw things at me through your computer. I leave several of my trees decorated all year and store them ‘ready to go’ in the basement. So let me rephrase that: I carried up 4 trees today. There, is that better? So here’s the tour so far.

The tree in my breakfast room….oh look , a beautiful cardinal flew in and nestled into the ribbons…..I love birds by the way…..and have them tweeting around everywhere…..This sweet little table top tree is in my living room. It’s mint green and I love it with all my heart. This is it’s 3rd Christmas with me…..and it’s third different spot.Meet my banister garland….not yet finished but getting there……see how much more fun after I add a pair of peacocks…….(my version of two turtle doves)and probably my signature Christmas decorating ‘move’ is ribbon……lots of ribbon…..everywhere. And this year I added blue to the mix. Don’t ya love it?I love to layer with ribbon….different colors, patterns, sizes…..with extra long ‘tails’…….

I always look for whimsical patterns….polka dots or something similiar, and mix that with more majestic colors or textures.and this my friends is a little gift I gave myself today. New makeup and lip gloss bags from TJMaxx. I love the pattern. And since as you know all my personal belongings got stolen, I needed a little ‘pick-me-up’…..not bad for 9.99. Now all I need is lip gloss.and for all you purists out there, I’m decorating my dining room table with traditional Thanksgiving Day fare….complete with a menu…….printed out and featured on the plate. I’m completely obsessed with silhouettes too and am working on a tree decorated with mostly silhouettes…….and lots of ribbon.Be creative. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Last year, I was in a Christmas home tour and decorated a tree in my son’s room using playing cards, poker chips , large bulb lights and a piece of burlap for a bedskirt. I did something similiar in the little girls’ room with flashcards and ribbon. Think outside the box…..and make it your own.

Hope you’re inspired to put on some Christmas music and tie some ribbons.

17 Comments

You are killing me with your decorations! Edie!! Your house is beautiful and looks so cozy, homey, inviting…got an extra spot at that lovely table? And placecards, menus, etc.? I love love love it all! You are amazing….xo Keli

Oh, and yes, I love the bags. I have an issue with bags, all bags, I love them and can’t help it..friends say I need counseling…(TJMaxx is da bomb) : )

Edie, not only am in inspired, I’m overstimulated. I need to go shopping and I need to do it NOW! Your home looks so amazingly fun. I just want to come and sit with you in it with a big cup of coffee. I would just look around in awe, I’m sure. The conversation would stink, because I would be so engrossed in my surroundings.

Stunning,fun, AND fabulous!Love the addition of blue ribbon, and the birds, especially the peacocks have kickstarted my festive feelings. All the colors are wonderful. I can’t wait to see the silhouette tree. Thanks for the inspiration.

Very cute. I love the blue ribbon addition, the name tags and the menu. I’m going to have to start decorating too or it’ll never get done, now that I home school. I WISH I had a basement to stash my decorated trees, what a great idea.I think we need to plan a blogger weekend trip sometime in the future, I’m dying to meet all of you. Keep the decor pics coming!

Oh my word, girl!!! This is amazing!!! Beautiful doesn’t do it justice!

It’s so funny b/c just yesterday I CAVED and listened to Christmas music and started getting my house cleaned and geared up for the decor in a couple of weeks..I normally don’t do this until the Day after Thanksgiving! But, goodness, I was in the BEST mood!!!

YES… love… love… all teh fun ribbon! well… really… to tell the truth… i think ALL your decorations are SUPER!very fun… very festive… very jealous! i will be one of those crazy ladies running around like the Thanksgiving turkey WAS… trying to get reading for Christmas!

WOW! Love the ribbons!!!! You’ve got a great mix of ‘em . I think it was last year, I saw a magazine picture with a “swag” of ribbons (hanging down like you have them ) with ornaments tied to the end and I loved it. Love your themed tree ideas too!!

Adding the blue is so *you*! It looks great. There will be no throwing things at you through the computer. I think I’ll just head on over and do it in person. *laugh* And if you weren’t already violated this month, I might even consider stealing those trees by your door! Just kidding, of course! You may want to booby-trap them though.

I keep telling myself that it’s okay to scale back and not do so much decorating, but then I see yours, and I don’t know if I can!

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